al official who saved the empire in times of need and used to be viewed of as the Tang Empire’s hope to be restored to its former glory. In the end, he was second-guessed by his ruler, other officials were jealous of him, and he was framed. If he reappeared, wouldn’t the Buddhists and Taoists be extremely fearful?

If he had managed to restore the empire to its previous glory, wouldn’t the Buddhists and Taoists have been unable to rise? After the Battle of Bagong Mountain, did the Taoist sects do something to him, along with the Emperor and the other officials?

Thoughts rang out in Li Ye’s mind. He shook his head to quell all of them.

He looked at the 36 arhats and realized that they had picked specific positions to stand at. It was not hard to imagine that these were positions that they could use to maximize the power of their formation. If Li Ye charged forward, they would activate the formation, trap and kill him.

Li Ye sighed secretly. It was despicable for his opponents, who outnumbered him 36 against one, to wait for him to strike first.

The corners of Li Ye’s lips twitched as he cast his gaze westward. Since his goal was to link up with Li Yan, why was he still here, tangling with the 36 arhats?

As he thought about it, a smile spread across Li Ye’s face.

The 36 arhats, all of them experts of Spiritual Master Realm, acutely captured his sinister grin. Many of them felt their hearts leap; he had proved to be extremely cunning when slaying the 18 Guardian Deities, so what was he up to again?

The chief arhat shouted to find out if his opponent was scheming. “Demon! You’ve brought harm upon this world and all life. If we don’t slay you right here and now, the Buddhists cannot be known as suppressors of Evil!”

His shout was authoritative. The shouts of the monks were driven by a special technique that struck all listeners with awe. According to them, it would cause the hearts of demons to waver, and for them to become fearful and retreat.

The Nine-word method of the Taoists and Six-word method of the Buddhists worked in a similar fashion.

The second arhat shouted as well. “You’ve already killed dozens of our brothers, and there’s no hope of survival for you tonight! The Arhat Formation is a secret technique of ours, and we’ve slain countless demons with it over the past few millennia! Yield, if you know what’s good for you!”

The third arhat followed closely behind. “Demon! There’s no place for you in this Earth, now that the Buddhists are here. Will you be able to take on all of us in a single night? Even if you flee to the corners of the earth, we’ll hunt you down!”

The fourth arhat was about to speak when he saw Li Ye move. He reached an arm out and pointed his middle finger at them.

The 36 arhats were shocked, believing that he was about to unleash some kind of magic technique. They did not dare to dally and tensed themselves up. After all, this demon was far too devious. Before they could even understand what the gesture meant, or what possible effects it could have, Li Ye suddenly leaped up.

The expressions of the arhats changed, and they looked shocked and lost.

This was because Li Ye was not charging toward them. Instead, he was running in the reverse direction toward the woods. His movements were too quick and sudden, and before the 36 arhats could react, he had already dashed about 300 meters away.

“The demon is planning to escape!” the fourth arhat finally spoke.

“He’s not fleeing. If he was, he should be running in the opposite direction!” the third arhat, who was highly intelligent, said.

“None of us are positioned at the direction he’s headed to!” the second arhat remarked with a shocked expression.

“Oh no!” the chief arhat exclaimed. “The demon wants to circle around us to meet up with the Tang Emperor!”

Everyone realized the trouble they were in upon hearing the chief arhat. They thought that Li Ye would be driven to fight, after watching him slay the 18 Guardian Deities, and that he would want to slay anything in his path. They did not expect that he would chicken out and try to run around them to Chencang.

He was indeed as devious as a demon. They thought he was about to unleash some trickery upon them, but they did not expect that he would want to avoid them.

“Chase!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

“We’ll be unable to deal with him if he meets up with the Emperor and is among tens of thousands of strong army!”

“I heard he mobilized an army to rendezvous with the Emperor. If he hides among them and refuses to emerge, there’s nothing we can do!”

“We can’t allow him to spoil our plans. Quick, chase!”

“This demon is truly devious and cunning!”

The 36 arhats immediately unleashed their skills and transformed into rainbows as they circled toward Li Ye. However, even though his actions took them by surprise, they did not panic. They continued to retain their formation and were able to hit him with it anytime.

Furthermore, circling around them would definitely not be quicker than if they traveled directed to Chencang. Eventually, he was still heading west, and they would definitely be able to intercept him if they continued to travel in a straight line.

The 36 arhats calmed themselves down and suddenly realized that even though the demon was devious, he could not possibly escape from them.

However, just as the thought came to them, and before they had time to despise Li Ye, they realized something was not quite right. They observed that Li Ye’s speed was simply too fast!

Chasing directly behind him aside, they would not be able to catch up with him, even if they traveled directly to Chencang! The arhats looked at each other as they realized this, noticing the shock in their companions’ faces.

“We can’t allow him to escape!”

“Chase after him at full speed!”

At the chief arhat’s orders, all of them began to chase after Li Ye at their maximum speed.

Li Ye turned to notice that the 36 arhats were already increasing their speed as they chased after him. His lips curled into a sinister smile.

With the aid of Dragon Qi and Green Lotus, not only had Li Ye’s offensive power increased greatly, but his speed was also greatly amplified. This was because both powers took effect after merging with his Spiritual Qi. Spiritual Master used it to help them traverse the skies, and as such, their speed was completely incomparable to that of a Spiritual Pool Master.

Even the Divine Yin God was not as fast as him.

Li Ye channeled his Spiritual Qi unhurriedly as he noticed that the 36 arhats had broken formation. He concealed his power and got ready to strike.

Even though all of the arhats were at Guardian Deity Realm, their physical cultivation still differed. After all, no two humans were completely alike, and their speeds varied as well. As they were chasing after him at full speed, they could no longer hope to maintain their formation.

Li Ye’s concern was the Arhat Formation, and not the arhats themselves. He could already injure Wuyazi seriously at Level 9 Qi-refining strength, and he could slay Huang Chao halfway into Foundation-building stage. Now, he had the power to slay experts at Spiritual Master and Guardian Deity Realm with a single sword blow.

Even though he could not unleash more than nine blows with his sword at peak condition, and was still at a disadvantage in a group fight, it was still much more effective than facing the Arhat Formation head on.

Li Ye observed the changes in the formation of his opponents as he flew. Even though they had broken ranks, he was in no hurry to attack. He had to wait till when it was completely broken and impossible to form up instantly before he could turn back to attack.

At the same time, he controlled his own speed. He had to close the distance between them as quickly as possible when the opportunity to strike presented itself. It was only then could he draw blood instantly and not allow his opponents to react and retreat.

The chief arhat was leading the others. When the formation was beginning to crumble, he had remained wary, preparing to allow the second and third arhats, who were to his left and right respectively, to retreat, so as to regroup, if Li Ye dared to turn back to attack.

However, Li Ye did not do so. The chief arhat could not decide if he was disappointed or happy. He was disappointed that their opponent did not turn back and court his own death, while he was happy that Li Ye seemed to be purely decided to circle round them to Chencang, and that he did not have other plans up his sleeve.

After all, the arhats were traveling in a straight line and pursuing him at full speed. The chief arhat gradually grew confident, as he saw Li Ye draw nearer. He was really fast, and if they had been chasing after him blindly, there was no way they could catch up with him, even if they traveled at maximum speed. Now, however, they were going to cut him off.

900 meters, 600 meters, 300 meters...

The chief arhat was getting ready to strike. After all, he was behind Li Ye’s blind spot and held the advantage while attacking. It would be hard for his opponent to spot him, and Li Ye would be finished if he gave him a vicious blow. This would prevent Li Ye from suddenly changing directions, and stop heading west to increase the distance between them. It was something that the chief arhat could not allow. After all, the 18 Guardian Deities were slain tonight, and the Buddhists had suffered huge losses. They had even died right in front of the 36 arhats, and it was going to be hard to explain.

At this moment!

The chief arhat’s eyes glinted, and he was about to strike!